The present invention relates to a camera having a trimming function in which a photographic image region is set by a pseudo zooming means and the trimming information that has been set is optically or magnetically recorded on a film.
In a conventional camera having a trimming function, the trimming information is recorded on a film in the following manner:
The conventional camera having a trimming function includes, for example, a picture-taking lens of single focus and a zoom viewfinder by which the viewfinder magnification can be changed. A photographer selects a desired photographing range through this zoom viewfinder, and conducts a release operation so as to expose a film surface. Then, the trimming information representing an exposure image region corresponding to a visual field of the zoom viewfinder is recorded on a film.
The trimming information has is recorded on the film after the film has been recorded, and the recorded trimming information is read out by a printer. According to this information, trimming is automatically conducted during the printing process.
In a conventional camera having a zoom lens, the viewfinder magnification is changed being linked with the zoom drive operation of a picture-taking lens. However, in the case of a camera having a trimming function in which only a picture-taking lens of single focus is provided, the driving operation for variable magnification of a viewfinder must be conducted separately from the operation of zoom driving of the picture-taking lens. Therefore, it is necessary to provide an exclusive drive source for driving the zoom viewfinder. For this reason, the cost is increased, and further a large arrangement space is required, which results in an increase of the size of the camera.
In the camera having a trimming function as described above, when a large number of setting positions are provided for trimming photography in a pseudo zoom region, an amount of trimming information to be recorded on a film surface is increased. For example, as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/110657 applied by the present applicant, in a system where the print information is digitally recorded outside of a film image surface in the form of optical information, an amount of information to be recorded can not be sufficiently increased because of the restriction of the capacity of an information recording unit or an information reading unit.
In order to solve the above problem, several trimming photographing positions are provided stepwise and can be selected in advance. In this type of camera in which the trimming region can be changed stepwise, when the visual field is selected through a zoom viewfinder, the trimming photographing positions are limited. Therefore, it is difficult for a photographer to acquire a desirable trimming photographing position.